When the cast of Hamilton delivered a message to VicePresident-elect Mike Pence after their performance on November 18, 2016 the Internet
went wild. Tweet-happy President-elect Donald Trump jumped in with his
indignation early the following morning, posting, “The Theater must always be a
safe and special place. The cast of Hamilton
was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!”

Set aside for a
moment the irony of President-elect Trump basically calling for a safe space.
Because while theater is special, it
has never, even in the realm of musical theater, been devoid of politics or
controversy. To give just a few examples: In the 1930s, President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt attended Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s Knickerbocker Holiday, a show that poked
fun at him and satirized the New Deal. According to a report the next day in
the New York Times, he “laughed
heartily” at the production. In the 1940s, Richard Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein II ignored advice to cut South
Pacific’s anti-racist song “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” insisting
that its message was the core reason for the show. In 1970, long before the
cast of Hamilton performed at the Obama
White House, the cast of the musical 1776
performed at the Nixon White House. The cast and production team felt decidedly
mixed about being associated with conservatism, and they took out a full-page
ad in the New York Times advocating the
end of the Vietnam War. And today, should Trump attend the off-Broadway
production Avenue Q, he can hear the puppet
characters sing that “Donald Trump is only for now,” a line that initially
referred to George Bush when the show opened in 2003.

Hamilton itself has become a kind of political
lodestone in highly partisan times while dramatizing the equally contentious politics
of our early republic using hip hop and a multiracial cast. Contemporary
politics aren’t ignored; in one of the show’s most cheered lines, Alexander
Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette are described as “immigrants” who “get
the job done.” Nonetheless, the musical has won acclaim across party lines,
from the Cheneys to the Obamas. A bipartisan group of Utah politicians joined
forces to make a “Carpool Karaoke” Hamiltonvideo, and the recent documentary about the musical, Hamilton’s America, featured President Obama, former President
George W. Bush, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. It’s
hard to imagine this group being able to agree on anything, perhaps least of all a work of art about political
history. This is one of Hamilton’s
most remarkable accomplishments.

To my knowledge
(and I queried a slew of fellow musical theater scholars as well), this is the
first Broadway musical cast to directly address a politician, while out of
character, from the stage. It was an extraordinary move in an extraordinary
time, when an almost all-minority cast performed for the Vice President of a
President-elect who has made offensive, often untruthful comments about
immigrants, Latino Americans, Muslims, and women. Pence himself has opposed
same-sex marriage and has advocated for anti-LGBT legislation, and it did not
go overlooked by the press that Hamilton’s
current leading man Javier Muñoz is openly gay and HIV-positive.

After all, Hamilton uses a minority cast to tell a history
of white “founding fathers” using the predominantly white art form of musical
theater not by chance but to claim their belonging, to say that U.S. history
and Broadway musicals are their heritage too. This message is not a break from the
history of musical theater. Musicals have long addressed the contested grounds
of “Americanness,” pushing audiences to engage with controversial political
issues – and even politicians themselves – outside of their “safe” zone.

Elizabeth T. Craft is an assistant professor of music at the
University of Utah. Her article on the marketing of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first
Broadway musical In the Heights appears
in Studies in Musical Theatre, and
she will present as part of a panel dedicated to Hamilton at the Society for American Music conference in March. Her
current book project, which has been supported by a Society for American Music
Virgil Thomson Fellowship and the University of Texas at Austin’s Harry Ransom
Center, examines the early twentieth-century musicals and cultural impact of
George M. Cohan. She thanks Dr. Naomi Graber and Dr. Elissa Harbert for their
comments during the preparation of this piece.

1 comment:

Set apart for a second the irony of Trump essentially calling for a secure space. due to the fact, even as theater is special, it has by no means, even inside the realm of musical theater, been with out politics or controversy. to offer only some examples: inside the Thirties, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's "Knickerbocker holiday," a show that poked fun at him and satirized the brand new Deal. consistent with a report the following day in the the big apple times, he "laughed heartily" at the manufacturing. within the Forties, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II neglected advice to reduce the anti-racist tune "you have got to Be carefully Taught" from "South Pacific," insisting that its message became the core motive for the show. In 1970, lengthy earlier than the solid of "Hamilton" completed at the Obama White house, the forged of the musical "1776" finished at the Nixon White residence. The solid and production team felt decidedly mixed about being associated with conservatism, and they took out a complete-page ad inside the ny times advocating the give up of the Vietnam conflict. And these days, must Trump attend the off-Broadway production "road Q," he might hear the puppet characters sing that "Donald Trump is handiest for now," a line that to start with noted George Bush while the display opened in 2003. damdaar